The law applies two hours before, during and two hours after the funeral and any related event.

Anyone who violates the law could be found guilty of a misdemeanor and fined up to $1,000 or sent to jail for a year.

Last week, the state Senate approved two bills that would add buffers and restrictions for protests or demonstrations that would disrupt military funerals, burials or memorial services. One increases the stay-away zone from 100 to 300 feet. The other would set up a permit process demonstrators would have to comply with in order to picket a military funeral. Both were passed by the Assembly and have been sent to Gov. Andrew Cuomo for his signature.

These new, local measures were written in response to a Supreme Court ruling that demonstrations at funerals are protected under the First Amendment, but subject to reasonable restrictions. Members of the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church travel the country, picketing military funerals. Church leader Fred Phelps preaches that God is allowing U.S. soldiers to die as punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuals.

The group threatened to picket a funeral for U.S. Army Sgt. Devin Snyder last Saturday in Rochester, but didn't show up. Snyder was killed June 4 in Afghanistan. According to published reports, more than 200 members of the Freedom Riders motorcycle group escorted Snyder's body from the Rochester International Airport to a funeral home. The bikers' presence may have kept the protesters away.

At a public hearing last week in Saratoga County to discuss the proposed law, supporter Paul Bouchard of Greenfield, a Vietnam veteran, said he worried the board members were well-intentioned, but at risk for a lawsuit.

"If we have to worry about liability, there's no sense in us being here," said Supervisor Frank Thompson, R-Milton.

County supervisors and bill sponsors at the state level said the measures balance demonstrators' rights to free speech with families' ability to mourn without additional distress.